"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing people he didn’t exist." - French poet, Baudelaire, February 7, 1864

Operation Truth was up and running in 2004. They had a lot of support from the left and from people like Joe Galloway. At the time, I thought it was mostly a Winter Soldier II effort on behalf of John Forbes Kerry who was up for election in a four or five months. I believe that Paul Rieckhoff, one of the two founders of Operation Truth, supported the Kerry Campaign.

Some of you may wonder why I give people a chance to respond on Blackfive, why I gave Paul Rieckhoff the opportunity. For one, I respect his service. And second, just because you have a different viewpoint on the war, does not necessarily mean that we will disagree on veterans issues like PTSD, TBI, GI Bill, etc.

I tend to give vets a voice as much as I can. I tend to cut as much slack as I can (except for the IVAW, etc.).

So, back to Operation Truth and the IAVA. When OpTruth got started, I asked Jimbo about it. He said, "I don't know them, but I don't trust anyone who claims to corner the market on 'truth'". Typical Jimmy, he nailed it.

Operation Truth's mission was:

...Operation Truth will educate the American public about the truth of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the perspective of the soldiers who have experienced them first-hand. We will provide returning veterans with national, regional, and local podiums from which they will expose the preventable hardships that they endured as a result of failures at the top levels of leadership. We intend to publicize how poorly-planned policies and approaches have manifested themselves as problems on the front lines and back at home...

Rieckhoff did ten months in Iraq in Baghdad with the 3rd ID and the 1st AD. After returning home, he started OpTruth and hit the airwaves. Most notable was his response to President Bush's weekly radio address in 2004, but he spent most of the response addressing the "Mission Accomplished" speech from the previous year. And, by the way, Rieckhoff officially responded on behalf of the Democratic Party.

While we’re talking about poseurs, what
about 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff? Rieckhoff delivered last weekend’s
Democratic response to the president’s radio address – an address
quickly posted on the John Kerry website.
If Rieckhoff doesn’t have Kerryesque political ambitions, I’ll be
stunned. Upon returning home from a ten-month stint in Iraq, he quickly
contacted his alma mater, Amherst College (where he was the 1998
student body president and where he delivered a speech last month), CBS
(which featured him on "60 Minutes"), and the Kerry campaign (which
helped sign him up for the radio address.) I have no doubt the
lieutenant has expressed frustrations of soldiers, who don’t like
getting shorted on basic supplies. The problem with this radio address,
which Rieckhoff says he wrote himself, is that it copies almost
verbatim from the Kerry and Democratic-party scripts.

He complains about the president’s May 1, 2003 speech aboard the USS
Abraham Lincoln, claiming falsely that the president had declared,
“Mission Accomplished!” While the president seemed naively confident
about the future, he also noted, “We have difficult work to do in Iraq.
We’re bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous….
The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is
worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done.” (Here’s the
entire speech.) More to the point, he never used the words, “Mission
Accomplished.” That banner was hung on the Lincoln in tribute to the
fact that its mission – which included having to stay several extra
months in the Gulf region – had been accomplished.

The
lieutenant also repeats Kerry’s kvetch about the lack of bulletproof
vests (due not to presidential negligence, but to the fact that
manufacturers just can’t produce them quickly enough). At any rate,
Rieckhoff is right about one thing: The mission isn’t accomplished yet.
Let’s hope he supports its ultimate accomplishment...

For some reason, perhaps because of the tainted view vets were having of Operation Truth, it morphed into Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Here is a screen shot (via the Internet archive) of the announcement. Notice that it states that the mission of Operation Truth will continue on...

Our Mission: IAVA’s mission is to improve the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.

The Need: The wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan are in their fifth and sixth years respectively. More
than 1.5 million American troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan,
and thousands have been deployed multiple times.

IAVA is dedicated to educating the public about
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, advocating on behalf of those who
have served, and fostering a community for troops, veterans, and their
families.

Not the same as Operation Truth. So, is the IAVA saying one thing but doing another?

So now to the IAVA, which lists Phil Carter, of Intel Dump, as a Founder. We took issue with Phil, as Director of Veterans for Obama, passing off the IAVA scorecard without disclosing that he is a Founder of the IAVA. The scorecard is clearly slanted in favor of Democrats and Senator Obama.

...And as for Phil Carter, it is no secret that he is an IAVA member. We have tens of thousands of members—and Phil is one of them. And we have clarified Phil’s role at IAVA on this page just so there is no confusion. He is not and never has been a paid staff member of IAVA...

So let's look at this more fully. Phil is just one of tens of thousands of members? Or is he a Founder? Call me simple, but isn't there a difference? Seems like there is...

Further, regarding the affiliation between Phil
Carter and the IAVA...

In
May 2008, Phil Carter wrote in his Washington Post blog, Intel Dump, that
IAVA was “mine”:

...Today,
as it
deliberates over the supplemental funding bill for the war, the House
of
Representatives will consider the new GI Bill legislation proposed by
Sen. Jim
Webb (D-Va.). The bill has broad bipartisan support from 330 senators
and
represenatives, along with the support of every veterans' service
organization
and advocacy group, including mine, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
of America. And yet, the legislation's fate appears uncertain, because
of opposition from the
White House, the Pentagon and Sen. John McCain...

Just one of those tens of thousands of members?

Phil Carter attacked John McCain in a blog post on the
Washington Post in May of 2008. That’s not terribly surprising to me now. But
note that he didn’t disclose anywhere on
his blog post – or in his
bio – that he was affiliated with the Obama campaign.

In January
of 2008, Carter referred to “my colleagues from the Obama
campaign”, and acknowledged being “part of the Obama veterans policy committee.”

So, the
Washington Post gave an Obama campaign operative a regular platform on their
site and allowed him to take shots without disclosing conflict of
interest.

That sounds awful politician-like and not very soldierly to me...Soldiers are supposed to give it to you straight. Why not declare your affiliations?

Comments

Obama Operatives or Straight Shooters? [IAVA and the Obama Campaign]

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing people he didn’t exist." - French poet, Baudelaire, February 7, 1864

Operation Truth was up and running in 2004. They had a lot of support from the left and from people like Joe Galloway. At the time, I thought it was mostly a Winter Soldier II effort on behalf of John Forbes Kerry who was up for election in a four or five months. I believe that Paul Rieckhoff, one of the two founders of Operation Truth, supported the Kerry Campaign.

Some of you may wonder why I give people a chance to respond on Blackfive, why I gave Paul Rieckhoff the opportunity. For one, I respect his service. And second, just because you have a different viewpoint on the war, does not necessarily mean that we will disagree on veterans issues like PTSD, TBI, GI Bill, etc.

I tend to give vets a voice as much as I can. I tend to cut as much slack as I can (except for the IVAW, etc.).

So, back to Operation Truth and the IAVA. When OpTruth got started, I asked Jimbo about it. He said, "I don't know them, but I don't trust anyone who claims to corner the market on 'truth'". Typical Jimmy, he nailed it.

Operation Truth's mission was:

...Operation Truth will educate the American public about the truth of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the perspective of the soldiers who have experienced them first-hand. We will provide returning veterans with national, regional, and local podiums from which they will expose the preventable hardships that they endured as a result of failures at the top levels of leadership. We intend to publicize how poorly-planned policies and approaches have manifested themselves as problems on the front lines and back at home...

Rieckhoff did ten months in Iraq in Baghdad with the 3rd ID and the 1st AD. After returning home, he started OpTruth and hit the airwaves. Most notable was his response to President Bush's weekly radio address in 2004, but he spent most of the response addressing the "Mission Accomplished" speech from the previous year. And, by the way, Rieckhoff officially responded on behalf of the Democratic Party.

While we’re talking about poseurs, what
about 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff? Rieckhoff delivered last weekend’s
Democratic response to the president’s radio address – an address
quickly posted on the John Kerry website.
If Rieckhoff doesn’t have Kerryesque political ambitions, I’ll be
stunned. Upon returning home from a ten-month stint in Iraq, he quickly
contacted his alma mater, Amherst College (where he was the 1998
student body president and where he delivered a speech last month), CBS
(which featured him on "60 Minutes"), and the Kerry campaign (which
helped sign him up for the radio address.) I have no doubt the
lieutenant has expressed frustrations of soldiers, who don’t like
getting shorted on basic supplies. The problem with this radio address,
which Rieckhoff says he wrote himself, is that it copies almost
verbatim from the Kerry and Democratic-party scripts.

He complains about the president’s May 1, 2003 speech aboard the USS
Abraham Lincoln, claiming falsely that the president had declared,
“Mission Accomplished!” While the president seemed naively confident
about the future, he also noted, “We have difficult work to do in Iraq.
We’re bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous….
The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is
worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done.” (Here’s the
entire speech.) More to the point, he never used the words, “Mission
Accomplished.” That banner was hung on the Lincoln in tribute to the
fact that its mission – which included having to stay several extra
months in the Gulf region – had been accomplished.

The
lieutenant also repeats Kerry’s kvetch about the lack of bulletproof
vests (due not to presidential negligence, but to the fact that
manufacturers just can’t produce them quickly enough). At any rate,
Rieckhoff is right about one thing: The mission isn’t accomplished yet.
Let’s hope he supports its ultimate accomplishment...

For some reason, perhaps because of the tainted view vets were having of Operation Truth, it morphed into Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). Here is a screen shot (via the Internet archive) of the announcement. Notice that it states that the mission of Operation Truth will continue on...

Our Mission: IAVA’s mission is to improve the lives of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families.

The Need: The wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan are in their fifth and sixth years respectively. More
than 1.5 million American troops have served in Iraq or Afghanistan,
and thousands have been deployed multiple times.

IAVA is dedicated to educating the public about
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, advocating on behalf of those who
have served, and fostering a community for troops, veterans, and their
families.

Not the same as Operation Truth. So, is the IAVA saying one thing but doing another?

So now to the IAVA, which lists Phil Carter, of Intel Dump, as a Founder. We took issue with Phil, as Director of Veterans for Obama, passing off the IAVA scorecard without disclosing that he is a Founder of the IAVA. The scorecard is clearly slanted in favor of Democrats and Senator Obama.

...And as for Phil Carter, it is no secret that he is an IAVA member. We have tens of thousands of members—and Phil is one of them. And we have clarified Phil’s role at IAVA on this page just so there is no confusion. He is not and never has been a paid staff member of IAVA...

So let's look at this more fully. Phil is just one of tens of thousands of members? Or is he a Founder? Call me simple, but isn't there a difference? Seems like there is...

Further, regarding the affiliation between Phil
Carter and the IAVA...

In
May 2008, Phil Carter wrote in his Washington Post blog, Intel Dump, that
IAVA was “mine”:

...Today,
as it
deliberates over the supplemental funding bill for the war, the House
of
Representatives will consider the new GI Bill legislation proposed by
Sen. Jim
Webb (D-Va.). The bill has broad bipartisan support from 330 senators
and
represenatives, along with the support of every veterans' service
organization
and advocacy group, including mine, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans
of America. And yet, the legislation's fate appears uncertain, because
of opposition from the
White House, the Pentagon and Sen. John McCain...

Just one of those tens of thousands of members?

Phil Carter attacked John McCain in a blog post on the
Washington Post in May of 2008. That’s not terribly surprising to me now. But
note that he didn’t disclose anywhere on
his blog post – or in his
bio – that he was affiliated with the Obama campaign.

In January
of 2008, Carter referred to “my colleagues from the Obama
campaign”, and acknowledged being “part of the Obama veterans policy committee.”

So, the
Washington Post gave an Obama campaign operative a regular platform on their
site and allowed him to take shots without disclosing conflict of
interest.

That sounds awful politician-like and not very soldierly to me...Soldiers are supposed to give it to you straight. Why not declare your affiliations?

Search

The Authors

Former Paratrooper and Army Officer, "Blackfive" started this blog upon learning of the valorous sacrifice of a friend that was not reported by the journalist whose life he saved. Email: blackfive AT gmail DOT com

Instapinch
Bill Paisley, otherwise known as Pinch, is a 22 year (ongoing) active and
reserve naval aviator. He blogs over at www.instapinch.com on a veritable
cornucopia of various and sundry items and will bring a tactical naval
aviator's perspective to Blackfive. Readers be warned: any comments of or
about the F-14 Tomcat will be reverential and spoken in low, hushed tones.
Email: wpaisley AT comcast DOT net

Mr. Wolf has over 26 years in the Army, Army NG, and USAR. He’s Airborne with 5 years as an NCO, before becoming an officer. Mr. Wolf has had 4 company commands. Signal Corp is his basic branch, and Public Affairs is his functional area. He recently served 22 straight months in Kuwait and Iraq, in Intel, PA, and senior staff of MNF-I. Mr. Wolf is now an IT executive. He is currently working on a book on media and the Iraq war. Functional gearhead.

In Iraq, he received the moniker of Mr. Wolf after the Harvey Kietel character in Pulp Fiction, when "challenges" arose, they called on Mr. Wolf...
Email: TheDOTMrDOTWolfAT gmail DOT com

Deebow is a Staff Sergeant and a Military Police Squad Leader in the Army National Guard. In a previous life, he served in the US Navy. He has over 19 years of experience in both the Maritime and Land Warfare; including deployments to Southwest Asia, Thailand, the South Pacific, South America and Egypt. He has served as a Military Police Team Leader and Protective Services Team Leader and he has served on assignments with the US State Department, US Air Force Security Police, US Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration. He recently spent time in Afghanistan working with, training and fighting alongside Afghan Soldiers and is now focused on putting his 4 year Political Science degree to work by writing about foreign policy, military security policy and politics.

McQ has 28 years active and reserve service. Retired. Infantry officer. Airborne and Ranger. Consider my 3 years with the 82nd as the most fun I ever had with my clothes on. Interests include military issues and policy and veteran's affairs.
Email: mcq51 -at - bellsouth -dot- net

Tantor is a former USAF navigator/weapon system officer (WSO) in F-4E Phantoms who served in the US, Asia, and Europe. He is now a curmudgeonly computer geek in Washington, DC, picking the taxpayers pocket. His avocations are current events, aviation, history, and conservative politics.

Twenty-three years of Active and Reserve service in the US Army in SF (18B), Infantry and SOF Signal jobs with operational deployments to Bosnia and Africa. Since retiring he's worked as Senior Defense Analyst on SOF and Irregular Warfare projects and currently ensconced in the emerging world of Cyberspace.

The Authors Emeritus

Major Pain --
A Marine who began his blog in Iraq and reflects back on what he learned there and in Afghanistan. To the point opinions, ideas and thoughts on military, political and the media from One Marine’s View.Email: onemarinesview AT yahoo DOT com

Uber Pig was an Infantryman from late 1991 until early 1996, serving with Second Ranger Battalion, I Corps, and then 25th Infantry Division. At the time, the Army discriminated against enlisted soldiers who wanted use the "Green to Gold" program to become officers, so he left to attend Stanford University. There, he became expert in detecting, avoiding, and surviving L-shaped ambushes, before dropping out to be as entrepreneurial as he could be. He is now the founder of a software startup serving the insurance and construction industries, and splits time between Lake Tahoe, Boonville, and San Francisco, CA.

Uber Pig writes for Blackfive a) because he's the proud brother of an enlisted Civil Affairs Reservist who currently serves in Iraq, b) because he looks unkindly on people who make it harder for the military in general, and for his brother in particular, to succeed at their missions and come home in victory, and c) because the Blackfive readers and commenters help keep him sane.

COB6 spent 24 years in the active duty Army that included 5 combat tours with service in the 1st Ranger Battalion and 1st Special Forces Group . COB6 was enlisted (E-7) and took the OCS route to a commission. COB6 retired a few years back as a field grade Infantry officer.
Currently COB6 has a son in the 82nd Airborne that just returned from his third tour and has a newly commissioned daughter in the 4th Infantry Division.